Page 78 of Pucking Tangled
“I didn’t want to fuck up our friendship. Or my relationship.” Casey tightened his grip on her.
“And I was following Casey’s lead,” Owen added.
“You’re all morons,” she teased. “We could have been doing this all along.”
“Maybe. But, maybe the timing wasn’t right before now.” Owen mused, always the insightful one.
“What happens when we step outside of these walls?” she asked. “When we all have to go back to reality?”
It was a question she hadn’t dared to ask Luca, but one that circled in her mind more than once.
“What do you mean?” Owen propped his cheek on his palm and looked her in the eyes.
“Will we ever be able to be our authentic selves out in public? What will people say?”
“Who gives a shit?” Owen shrugged.
She felt Casey’s body tense next to her, no doubt recalling all the things people had already said about his and Owen’s relationship.. “Oh, tongueswillwag, Mia.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
“Why don’t we figure out how to exist withinthesewalls first?” Owen suggested.
She looked between them, studying their handsome faces.
Everything was so different now.
The way Casey touched her like he might shatterif she pulled away.
The way Owen moved like every breath he took with her was sacred.
They didn’t feel like halves of a whole. And certainly not fourths of her heart.
They felt like so much more than that.
“I think I’m gonna fall asleep,” she whispered after a long, soft silence.
She didn’t have the capacity to say anymore.
“Then sleep,” Casey said. “We’ll be here.”
Between Casey’s warmth and protection, and Owen’s quiet consistency, Mia drifted off to sleep.
TWENTY-EIGHT
Waylon
Waylon pulledinto the driveway and shut off his truck.
All the lights were off downstairs.
When he walked in the house, he was met with silence.
He headed to the kitchen and grabbed a beer. Popping the top he stared off into space like some how the answers would come to him.
The house was quiet. Too quiet.
Sure, it was late and there was a good chance that everyone was asleep by now, but something felt different.
